Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Answer 2

Sensory receptors

Question 3

Process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful

Answer 3

Perception

Question 4

Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Answer 4

Bottom-up processing

Question 5

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Answer 5

Top-down processing

Question 6

Conversion of one form of energy to another; transferring of stimulus energies (sights, sounds, etc) to neural impulses our brain can interpret

Answer 6

Transduction

Question 7

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Answer 7

Psychophysics

Question 8

Minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Answer 8

Absolute threshold

Question 9

Theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) and background stimulation (noise)

Answer 9

Signal Detection Theory

Question 10

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 10

Subliminal

Question 11

Minimum difference between two stimuli required for a detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a (just noticeable difference)

Answer 11

Difference threshold

Question 12

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Answer 12

Sensory adaptation

Question 13

Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Answer 13

Perceptual set

Question 14

Distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from short gamma rays to long radio transmissions

Answer 14

Wavelength

Question 15

Dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light

Answer 15

Hue

Question 16

The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave’s height (amplitude)

Answer 16

Intensity

Question 17

The light sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cods plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Answer 17

Retina

Question 18

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Answer 18

Accommodation

Question 19

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Answer 19

Depth perception

Question 20

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Answer 20

Perceptual Constancy

Question 21

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Answer 21

Perceptual adaptation